1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to a system and method for telecommunications. More particularly, the present invention relates to a system and method for managing use of a temporary wireless directory number, which may be used in emergency situations, to provide communication service to a mobile terminal.
2. Background Information
In wireless communication systems, a mobile directory number (MDN) is a dialable number associated with a mobile terminal. The MDN of a mobile terminal may be dialed by a caller and used to route a call through a communication network to a wireless subscriber's home system. Calls to a roaming wireless subscriber are routed to a mobile terminal at the serving system (SS) using a temporary long distance number (TLDN), as opposed to the MDN. The TLDN is similar to a call forwarding number provided by the serving system to the home system on request to deliver a call to a roaming mobile terminal.
However, in disaster situations, such as a hurricane or earthquake, one or more elements of a network necessary to route calls to a mobile terminal using the MDN or TLDN may be damaged, thereby by impairing and/or preventing communication services from being provided to a mobile terminal. For example, a situation may occur in which a mobile terminal can make outgoing calls as a roamer through a visited serving system, but cannot receive incoming calls through a home system, which may be out of service due to a disaster.